A widely used storage medium for storing information is storage tape, such as magnetic tape. Storage tapes can be mounted in various types of tape cassettes or cartridges. One type of tape cassette or cartridge is a two-reel or two-spindle cassette or cartridge in which the tape is housed entirely within the cassette or cartridge. One end of the tape is attached to a first reel, while another end of the tape is attached to a second reel. The cassette or cartridge is loaded into a tape drive, which includes a tape head that engages the tape to read data from or record data to the tape as the tape is wound from one reel to the other in the tape cassette or cartridge.
Alternatively, a single-reel or single-spindle tape cartridge can be used in which the cartridge has one reel or spindle. In a single-reel design, the source reel is located in the tape cartridge, but a take-up reel is located outside the cartridge in the tape drive. When the single-reel cartridge is loaded into the tape drive, an end of the tape is removed from the cartridge and loaded onto the take-up reel of the tape drive.
To achieve increased data transfer rates, some tape drives employ tape head assemblies having multiple channels of read and write elements. The multiple channels of write elements are capable of recording to multiple data tracks of the tape simultaneously, and the multiple channels of read elements are capable of reading from multiple data tracks of the tape simultaneously.
Typically, a flexible circuit is used to route traces that electrically connect read and write elements of the tape head assembly to respective read and write circuitry mounted elsewhere in a tape drive, such as on a circuit board. A conventional flexible circuit contains a single layer of read and write traces. With multi-channel tape head assemblies, a relatively large number of traces are routed through the single-layer flexible circuit. Conventionally, according to one example, the distance between vertical centerlines of adjacent traces can be no closer than 150 micrometers (μm). This spacing leads to relatively high inductance in the traces. The high inductance results in high impedance, which reduces the ability to achieve fast rise times for signals (especially write signals) transmitted over the traces.